I’m not interested in reducing my screen time.
My work — mostly writing and designing — is far easier and more efficient using a computer than it was writing or typing by hand or drafting in permanent ink on vellum — trying for (but never achieving) perfection on the first pass, so I wouldn’t have to do it all over again.
In the morning, I check the weather, traffic conditions, news headlines and important emails on my phone. Altogether, on a normal week, I watch one or two hours of streamed media while on the treadmill or doing laundry. My interest in what we once called television ebbed long ago. When our cable went out for a couple of weeks in 2010, we didn’t notice and decided to cancel it.
I carry a couple of dozen books on my phone, and I open them in my Kindle app. In my leisure time, I read mostly novels while waiting for doctor or dentist appointments, at car service shops, before work in the morning, and after cleaning the kitchen in the evening. Looking at the printed characters on a paper page just isn’t all that different from looking at the same characters on my phone. And the phone is less bulky to carry around.
If you want good customer service, be a good customer.
I usually receive good customer service from people working in retail settings. People tend to be polite and helpful when I’m polite and respectful. When service is poor, it’s usually not the people I interact with who are responsible, but rather the short staffing or stress they are under. It’s not hard to show some empathy. (Most customer service problems I have experienced result from poorly designed automation. I will save that observation for another time.)
In contrast, a former colleague bemoaned the pervasive low quality of retail customer service at every opportunity. He took me shopping once, and from the moment we entered the store, he was condescending and rude to store staff. I was embarrassed to be with him. The service he received was far better than he deserved.
Sleep on it. It works for me.
When I encounter a problem, and I face many a day, I usually have the wherewithal to solve it in real time, on my own or with any number of colleagues and collaborators. Maybe I should call this blurb “Work with Others.” But I often run into a problem that doesn’t have an immediate solution, or has many, each with different advantages and disadvantages. Recently, I’ve struggled with song lyrics that say exactly what I want them to say but don’t evoke enough emotion or fit the meter or something else. Shortly after I determine that continued work will yield diminishing returns, I set the song aside and move on to something else I’m working on. Before bed, I’ll revisit the problematic song intensely. Usually the next morning, the problem has transformed into ideas. In my experience, the same method works for electrical circuits, structural design, visual art composition and prose. On the other hand, I have found no solution to difficulties arising from my introversion.